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Work #803 · Late

The Dispossessed

Ursula K. Le Guin
1974 · English
Science-fiction novel · Late-twentieth-century anglophone speculative fiction

Le Guin's 1974 anarchist-utopian science-fiction novel — an ambiguous utopia

Attribute Fingerprint

Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.

Attribute The Dispossessed (Late)
Time · Extent Infinite
Time · Ontological Status Substantival
Time · Grain Continuous
Time · Freedom Non-Deterministic
Time · Traversability Non-Linear
Time · Dimensionality One
Time · Direction Bi-directional
Space · Extent Infinite
Space · Ontological Status Substantival
Space · Curvature Flat
Space · Dimensionality Three
Space · Locality Local
Matter · Extent Infinite
Matter · Ontological Status Substantival
Matter · Conservation Conserved
Matter · Dimensionality Three
Matter · Locality Local
Observer · Time Instance Single
Observer · Space Instance Single
Observer · Knowledge Extent Partial
Observer · Knowledge Retainment Total
Observer · Physicality Embodied
Observer · Agency Both
Observer · Number Plural
Observer · Metaphysical Agency None
Observer · Moral Authority Constructed
Observer · Theological Method
Energy · Extent Infinite
Energy · Ontological Status Substantival
Energy · Conservation Conserved
Energy · Dispersibility Irreversible
Information · Ontological Status Substantival
Information · Cosmic Conservation Conserved
Information · Personal Conservation Conserved
Information · Granularity Continuous

Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence

What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.

Time

The Dispossessed

The alternating past-present chapters of Shevek's life.

Space

The Dispossessed

Anarres and Urras as paired political spaces.

Matter

The Dispossessed

The embodied actors of two civilizations.

Observer

The Dispossessed

Shevek the physicist-traveler.

Energy

The Dispossessed

Energies of work, exchange, and revolution.

Information

The Dispossessed

The political-philosophical imagination of an alternative society.

Internal Tensions

Where each work's argument pulls against itself.

The Dispossessed

Le Guin's Dispossessed: foundational for utopian / anarchist speculative fiction; central reference for the modern political imagination.